Where to find the best bakeries in Paris, for baguettes, loaves and
traditional sandwich fare

Marie-Anotinette knew it: bread and cake (and brioche) are very different things. As patissier Eric Lanlard has told The Telegraph previously, there is a rivalry between bakers and pastry chefs in France, and woe betide he who confuses them. Pastries may steal the show when it comes to aesthetics - nothing beats gold-rimmed glass windows filled with glistening fruits and sweet Chantilly cream - but bread is what keeps Paris going. Baking this staple carbohydrate is highly regulated in France - there are ministry papers longer than a Budget report detailing yeast, flour and water specifications.

You can forget all that and just take our advice on where to go to buy the best baguettes, loaves - and the odd pain au chocolat - in the French capital.

The fun might have been spoilt now that you can buy Poilâne bread in Waitrose, but nothing compares entering the olde-worlde wooden-shelved Paris shop at 8 rue du Cherche-Midi, which stands slightly incongruously against the designer shoe boutiques that occupy surrounding units. Pierre Poilâne moved to Paris in 1932 to open this very shop, and the family has been selling the off-white crumb sourdough loaves ever since. Eat slices – cut from the famous miche (loaf) – toasted and topped with melted goat’s cheese, or join the queue for the hot-from-the-oven apple turnovers, demand for which supply finds hard to keep pace with. (8 rue du Cherche-Midi, 75006; 00 33 1 45 48 42 59; poilane.com)

Eric Kayser prides itself on using liquid yeast, a mixture of fermented flour and water, which is said to be more difficult to master than hard yeast – but yields superior results. The bread has a soft crumb and a thick golden crust, and each loaf is baked in the branch in which it is sold. Specialities include fig bread, and the mixed grain round loaf, perfect with honey or jam as a snack. (Various shops in Paris, including one at 85 boulevard Malesherbes, 00 33 1 45 22 70 30; maison-kayser.com)

Lemarié

Natasha Edwards, Telegraph Travel's resident Paris expert, goes to four or five different bakeries near her home, as each has some things that they do better than the others. Her current favourite is Lemarié, on Place de la Contrescarpe. Natasha says "no-one's heard of them but they do a really good crusty Tradigrain baguette." (Place de la Contrescarpe, 75005)

Moisan

As Parisians become more health conscious, the humble white flour baguette has ceded its place in recent times to wholegrain and wheat-free loaves. Moisan is at the helm, supplying well-to-do Parisians with wholemeal sourdough loaves in a variety of shapes and sizes, the most popular being the fat, brown country-style loaf, ready for breaking and dunking into vegetable broth with a hunk of French cheese. Maybe not so healthy, then, but very, very good. All the bakery’s flour is certified organic (“Bio” products are the hottest thing since red wine and garlic in Paris at the moment) and the results are enough to make you forget the 5:2, 4:3, or whichever is the latest diet craze. (Available from bakers and delis across Paris; 00 33 1 49 58 10 48)

Baker Ridha Khadher won the Best Baguette in Paris competition last year – a serious contest entered by 203 of the city’s boulangers. The entries are strictly tested and must meet certain criteria, including having a length of 55-70cm and a weight of 25-300 grams. All the entries were pulled apart, sniffed, tasted and examined before Mr Khadler, whose bakery Au Paradis du Gourmand (“In the food lover’s heaven”) is in the 14th arrondissement, won. His prize? Supplying bread to the Elysée Palace for a year. (156 Rue Raymond Losserand, 75014; 00 33 9 62 30 47 13)

Boulangerie Murciano

This kosher Jewish bakery in the Marais district sells fluffy white plaited loaves alongside rich, nutty pastries and famous apfelstrudel - apple pastries. Customers enter via a blue doorway and are served by women in (authentic) traditional dress. Those avoiding the calories in the baker's creations can admire them piled up in the pretty glass and white plastic window shelves. (Rue des Rosiers, 75004 Paris, France; 00 33 1 48 87 48 88)

Murciano, in the Marais, sells Jewish bread. Photo: Getty

Du Pain et des Idées

In a shop that dates from 1870, retaining its bevelled mirrors and painted glass ceiling, Christophe Vasseur runs a bakery that promises to use only natural ingredients, with all loaves baked on the premises. He keeps it simple, making only a couple of varieties of bread, some viennoiserie and, on Fridays, a bread with apples, grapes and orange flowers, and “Le Rabelais”, a sweet bread with chestnut honey, saffron, Perigord nuts and turmeric. Flour is the finest French organic kind; butter is of the extra fine variety, from Montaigu, and in his pastries Valrhona chocolate is secreted. The crème de la crème. (34 rue Yves Toudic 75010; 00 33 1 42 40 44 52; dupainetdesidees.com)

Boulangerie - Pâtisserie A. Torres

A real boulanger du quartier (local neighbourhood baker), this shop in the Latin Quarter emits glorious smells of freshly baking bread that are difficult to resist. Inside you will find a fine selection of traditional baguettes – white, country-style and seeded – alongside sugared almonds and little packs of sweets that French mummies buy to keep les enfants happy. Also look out for the doorstep wedges of quiche. You won’t find many other tourists here, but if you want to live like a local, this is where to come. (45, rue Claude Bernard, 75005; 00 33 1 43 31 21 57)

Boulangerie Gosselin

In Paris's 7th arrondissement, near the Musée d'Orsay, this 25-year-old business sells bread made from traditional family recipes, and the baguettes have the obligatory encrusted flour dusting and a light texture. Also come here for soups in winter, cakes, and macaroons (258, boulevard Saint Germain 75007 Paris; 01 45 51 53 11; boulangeriegosselin.com) .